Project Summary

Waste to Energy

Urban energy recovery and development concept

An exterior view of the project seen from the site limit, along the neighborhood access point. Merging with the landscape, the project provides easy accessibility for the locals to interact with the public spaces, provided through rooftop terraces and cafeteria. The two forms of the journey meet to create a cycle of awareness and public interaction.

Presentation of the “Next Generation” 4th prize for “Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon” (l-r): winners Romy El Sayah, Yara Rahme, Marylynn Antaki, Mira Boumatar, all American University of Beirut, Lebanon; Benedikt Vonnegut, CEO of Holcim Lebanon; Daniel Irurah, jury member and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture & Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; and winner Christina Attiyeh, American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Mira Boumatar (left), Marylynn Antaki and team from American University of Beirut, Lebanon won the Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 4th prize 2014 for “Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon”.

An overall diagram showing building access and the journey along the two incorporated programs: the thermal treatment plant and the designer’s workshop spaces. The first journey acts as a museum and is guided by the incineration process. It then links to the second journey along the studio workshop spaces, which aims to provide exposure to the many local skilled laborers in the nearby industrial region.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
An exterior view of the project seen from the site limit, along the neighborhood access point. Merging with the landscape, the project provides easy accessibility for the locals to interact with the public spaces, provided through rooftop terraces and cafeteria. The two forms of the journey meet to create a cycle of awareness and public interaction.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
An overall diagram showing building access and the journey along the two incorporated programs: the thermal treatment plant and the designer’s workshop spaces. The first journey acts as a museum and is guided by the incineration process. It then links to the second journey along the studio workshop spaces, which aims to provide exposure to the many local skilled laborers in the nearby industrial region.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
Section cut through the first journey along the incineration process with corresponding moments.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
Reading space and lounge at the end of the museum journey with a view towards the existing landfill.

An industrial quarter currently suffers from an overflow of waste, recurrent power outages, and a lack of skilled labor. Overflowing landfills are in dire need of an emergency waste plan.

The project offers a set of sustainable solutions for reactivating the area, transforming waste into energy, and reinstating local artisanship. The project combines a waste-to-energy plant with public facilities and is aimed at raising public awareness regarding an unsustainable condition.

Project Timeline

June 29, 2015 | Project Feature | Beirut, Lebanon

The Bouchrieh industrial quarter located on the outskirts of Beirut currently suffers from an overflow of waste, recurrent power outages, and a lack of skilled labor. The city’s overflowing landfill is in dire need of an emergency waste plan. Addressing the problem at hand, the project offers a set of sustainable solutions for reactivating the area, transforming waste into energy, and reinstating local craftsmanship.

The project combines a waste-to-energy plant with public facilities – workshop and exhibition spaces – aimed at raising public awareness regarding Beirut’s unsustainable condition. Making the problem an integral part of the solution, the plant is conceived as a pioneering model that can be implemented in other parts of the country

October 24, 2014 | VIDEO – PROJECT AUTHOR | Beirut, Lebanon

The Next Generation 4th prize winning project redefines the purpose of waste in the city according to author Christina Attiyeh of American University of Beirut (AUB). “Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept” in Beirut, Lebanon offers a set of sustainable solutions for reactivating the area, transforming waste into energy, and reinstating local artisanship. The project combines a waste-to-energy plant with public facilities and is aimed at raising public awareness regarding an unsustainable condition.

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Presentation of the Acknowledgement prize for “White Canvas: Health center and school in refugee camp, Bassikounou, Mauritania” (l-r): Amer Moustafa, Member of the Holcim Awards jury 2014 Africa Middle East and Associate Dean, School of Architecture and Design American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; winners Attila Szabadics and Mónica Rácz, ArchSus Group, Pécs, Hungary; Javier de Benito, Area Manager of Holcim for Africa Middle East.

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Representatives of all five Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize-winning teams with projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritania, Palestine and Rwanda are congratulated by Amer Moustafa, Member of the Holcim Awards jury 2014 Africa Middle East and Associate Dean, School of Architecture and Design American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (4th from right) and Javier de Benito, Area Manager of Holcim for Africa Middle East (3rd from right).

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Presentation of the “Next Generation” 1st prize for “Bio-Mimicry: Water research center, Fika Patso Dam, South Africa” (l-r): Daniel Irurah, jury member and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture & Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; winner Jurie Swart, South Africa; and Edward Schwarz, General Manager of the Holcim Foundation, Switzerland.

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Presentation of the “Next Generation” 3rd prize for “Machinarium: Regenerative urban catalyst and textile production, Pretoria, South Africa” (l-r): Daniel Irurah, jury member and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture & Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; winner Heidi van Eeden, University of Pretoria, South Africa; and Edward Schwarz, General Manager of the Holcim Foundation, Switzerland.

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Presenting the Holcim Awards main prize-winning projects: Howayda Al-Harithy, Head of the Holcim Awards jury for Africa Middle East and Professor of Architecture, American University of Beirut.

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Presenting the Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize-winning projects: Amer Moustafa, Member of the Holcim Awards jury 2014 Africa Middle East and Associate Dean, School of Architecture and Design American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Holcim Awards 2014 Africa Middle East ceremony, Beirut, Lebanon
Presenting the “Next Generation” prize-winning projects: Daniel Irurah, Member of the Holcim Awards jury 2014 Africa Middle East and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Planning University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Holcim Awards Silver 2014 – Evergreen City: Urban pine forest rehabilitation, Beirut, Lebanon
The Beirut Pine Forest is centrally located in the city and can be easily accessible through main roads. It is surrounded by different functions such as residential, office, educational, cultural, and religious precincts. Softscape, an urban project starting from Downtown Beirut will have the Beirut Pine Forest as its final stop.

Holcim Awards Bronze 2014 – Incremental Construction: Low-cost modular housing scheme, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The project is situated in an area earmarked for total renewal in a typical neighborhood of Addis Ababa, one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa. New constructions in the city predominantly use concrete frame and cast in-situ construction; and the city has banned natural materials from being used in buildings since 2009, limiting the solutions available for house construction. It aimed to investigate possibilities for an alternative urban housing unit in this context.

Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 1st prize 2014 –Bio-Mimicry: Water research center, Fika Patso Dam, South Africa
This project explores whether nature and architecture can amalgamate to become a hybrid solution in a vast landscape which has lost its reference to place and time. The transformation of place and time through architecture results in a progressive fusion giving meaning to a certain non-place lacking character and spatial qualities and resulting in an awakened space. This led to the idea of spatial reawakening through the medium of architecture.

The Holcim Awards competition also seeks bold ideas for tomorrow in the “Next Generation” category for participants up to 30 years of age. Students Marylynn Antaki, Christina Attiyeh, Mira Boumatar, Romy El Sayah and Yara Rahme from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon received the 4th prize for an urban energy recovery and development concept for the city.

The jury commends the student’s ethical posture and their courage to engage with a citywide challenge. The very problem is perceived as an opportunity to not only produce refuse as a valuable power resource but to also create a series of exciting public spaces – a wasteland is transformed into a place and center of communal activities. The most promising feature of the project is the promising idea to empower local craftsmen, through education and vocational training programs with a focus on re-use, re-cycling, and reducing material flows.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
An exterior view of the project seen from the site limit, along the neighborhood access point. Merging with the landscape, the project provides easy accessibility for the locals to interact with the public spaces, provided through rooftop terraces and cafeteria. The two forms of the journey meet to create a cycle of awareness and public interaction.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
An overall diagram showing building access and the journey along the two incorporated programs: the thermal treatment plant and the designer’s workshop spaces. The first journey acts as a museum and is guided by the incineration process. It then links to the second journey along the studio workshop spaces, which aims to provide exposure to the many local skilled laborers in the nearby industrial region.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
Section cut through the first journey along the incineration process with corresponding moments.

Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Waste to Energy: Urban energy recovery and development concept, Beirut, Lebanon
Reading space and lounge at the end of the museum journey with a view towards the existing landfill.

The Bouchrieh industrial quarter located on the outskirts of Beirut currently suffers from an overflow of waste, recurrent power outages, and a lack of skilled labor.The city’s overflowing landfill is in dire need of an emergency waste plan. Addressing the problem at hand, the project offers a set of sustainable solutions for reactivating the area, transforming waste into energy, and reinstating local craftsmanship.

The project combines a waste-to-energy plant with public facilities – workshop and exhibition spaces – aimed at raising public awareness regarding Beirut’s unsustainable condition. Making the problem an integral part of the solution, the plant is conceived as a pioneering model that can be implemented in other parts of the country.

The premise: As a new proposal to an ever-existing problem, a waste-to-energy plant redefines what is considered waste by providing much needed electricity to 200,000 industries and households. Making the problem an integral part of the solution, the plant is conceived as a pioneering model that can be implemented in other parts of the country that are suffering from a lack of basic energy amenities.

Giving back to the community: Bouchrieh’s manual laborers are known for their skills in creating high-tech products with basic machinery. Studio and exhibition spaces for designers in their proximity reintegrate their role within the social fabric while providing them with an added layer of exposure. Shedding the light on these endangered know-how practices by incorporated the designer’s trends of reuse.

A message of awareness: Decreasing product lifecycles continue to induce a large amount of waste while the resources of the planet are being depleted. The aim is to introduce a waste-awareness campaign revolving around the idea of extending life cycles. Architecturally, this is translated into a journey alongside the process of converting waste into energy. The path through the plant leads to the final thinking tube where the visitor becomes aware of his own procured waste.

Growing from social emergency: The zero-impact plant reprises the solution for waste in an economically and environmentally sustainable way. The project proposes an NGO investment for initial implementation into a viable solution for the community energy crisis. The use of local materials for construction reduces transportation pollution while promoting local resources: concrete is locally produced, sustainably.

The neighborhood hub: Accessible roofs acting as a continuation of the urban landscape allow for communal spaces that provide informal reading and resting spaces. As one of the few leftover plots in the city, the project aims to reactivate the public space for the local residents while giving importance to the remaining open space as a social hub within the neighborhood.